GEORGETOWN — Lobstermen are feeling the encroachment of tourism at the town wharf, where some officials feel fishermen have ruled for too long.

But lobstermen are afraid of the plan to remodel and attract tourists.

“I’m afraid people are going to change our way of life,” says Barry Moore, a fisherman for 20 years. “There’s not many working wharves left around here and we like this one the way it is.”

A town meeting in June approved spending $120,000 to rebuild the Five Islands wharf, and start charging an annual mooring fee of $200. Town officials also are considering proposals to encourage more public use of the wharf by building a second parking lot, allowing a tour boat to dock and trying to attract a souvenir shop.

Town officials say the changes are needed to pay for the wharf and its upkeep. But some fishermen oppose paying the fee for moorings they’ve always used for free, and most worry about being driven off the wharf by businesses catering to tourism.

“We’re a private lot and kind of independent,” says Jimmy McMahan, 59, a fisherman. “I don’t want to see any shops selling plastic lobsters.”

In other areas of Maine’s coast, fishermen say, pleasure boaters and developers have crowded them out of wharves like Five Islands.

William Brennan, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, says the pressure towns feel to develop fishing wharves poses a problem for the industry.

“One of the concerns I have for small coastal communities is that they’ll see their last bait shack or lobster pound disappear,” Brennan said. “That lobster pound might support several fishermen and their families.”

In the past, lobsters have been plentiful and tourists few at Five Islands, where there has been a fishing community since the 1800s.

The town acquired the wharf in 1973 only to see it nearly demolished by a hurricane five years later. It was replaced, but has been slowly deteriorating since then.

No fishermen were at the town meeting when the decision to repair the wharf was made after an engineering survey found it would collapse in a severe storm if left unrepaired.

The $120,000 for the rebuilding will be spent over five years. The property management board says the wharf must become self-sufficient from mooring fees.

While the estimated 25 full-time fishermen using the wharf agree the repairs are needed, they are not happy about the new mooring fee.

“The fishermen think the wharf is basically theirs and that’s not true,” says Frank Sarcione, who works at Bath Iron Works and is chairman of the Property Management Board. “There is no reason why they should get preferential treatment.”

Sarcione envisions opening a second parking lot at the wharf for visitors, and increasing the number of floats where boaters can tie up and eat lunch.

The existing parking lot holds only 25 cars and there are just two floats, one for fishermen; the other for visitors.

David Bowers, another board member, said he hopes town officials and the fishermen can work together to develop future plans for the wharf.

“Otherwise, the town will have to get hard-nosed and start writing ordinances to enforce things,” he said.